Blueberry Hill

Song Review
by Stewart Mason

It's not just that Fats Domino had a knack for making even the most innocuous lyric sound kinda dirty -- any good rock and roll singer can do that -- it's that he has a singular knack for sounding lascivious and sweetly endearing at the same time. His classic 1956 single "Blueberry Hill" is the perfect example of this unique ability; nothing about the song -- a minor standard which had previously been recorded by the likes of Gene Autry, Louis Armstrong, Jimmy Dorsey, Glenn Miller and the Ink Spots -- suggests anything the slightest bit improper, but Domino delivers the (actually kind of square) lyrics with his trademark twinkle and inimitable phrasing. The man is a master of suggesting volumes with nothing more than a sly pause in the middle of a line, giving this version of "Blueberry Hill" the undeniable frisson that earlier versions almost entirely lacked: there's no question what kind of thrill Domino and his sweetie enjoyed. Dave Bartholomew's production is no different than it is on Domino's other big hits -- Earl Palmer's unmistakable shuffle, Alvin Tyler's sax fills and the big man's own, sometimes underappreciated, piano -- but this is the time that everything was just right, making not only Fats Domino's greatest hits, but certainly one of the five or six best rock and roll singles of the '50s.